1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to power consumption control methods, electronic apparatuses, management apparatuses, and recording-media. More particularly, the present invention relates to a power consumption control method, in which the power consumption of electronic apparatuses connected to a network is collectively controlled, and also relates to an electronic apparatus, a management apparatus, and a recording medium. Here, the electronic apparatus or the management apparatus is to be communicably “connected” to the network, with an OS (Operating System) operating in a device such as a computer which controls the operation of the electronic apparatus or the management apparatus.
In recent years, as computer systems have been widely used in various fields, the ever-increasing amount of power consumption has become a problem that urgently needs a solution. In a computer system in which a large number of computers are connected to a network, all the computers are not often accessed at once. In this aspect, the power consumption of computers which are not being accessed should be effectively restricted.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional computer system in which a large number of computers are connected to a network, each computer controls the power consumption itself. In such a system, the power-saving control of each computer is performed in accordance with a power-saving program set by each user. When the operation mode of one computer switches from a normal operation mode to a power-saving mode, the user manually switches the operation mode to the power-saving mode, or the operation mode automatically switches to the power-saving mode after no access has been made for a predetermined period of time. In such a system, the frequency of power-saving control varies depending on each user of the computers. This often results in an unnecessarily large amount of power consumption of the entire computer system.
Japanese Patent Application No. 10-31361 discloses a method for performing effective power-saving control. In this method, the server transmits a control signal to a client in accordance with a predetermined schedule set in the server, and if certain conditions are satisfied, the client switches to the power-saving mode. However, since all the clients connected to a network perform the power-saving control independently of each other, the frequency of power-saving control varies depending on the user. This causes the problem of inefficient power consumption in the computer system.